Back in 2012, Wildlife Wonderland, a wildlife park in Australia, shut down. When they abandoned the park, however, they left one important display behind: Rosie the preserved, dead, Great White Shark. This is Rosie’s story and where she is now.
Rosie The Preserved, Forgotten, Great White Shark
In 1998, a great white shark off the coast of Australia got caught in tuna fishing nets. Sadly, no matter how hard the shark tried, they could not get out and instead further entangled themselves in the net. There was no safe way to free the shark, so those involved had no choice but to kill the animal in the most humane way possible. They named the shark Rosie. Wildlife Wonderland took an interest in her and wanted to preserve her and put her on display at their park, so that’s where she went.
“Everybody was too afraid to go in and get her out […] if you do that to a white shark, it’s gonna bite you and eat you. So everyone’s too afraid to go in there and the problem with these animals, when they get heavily stressed their blood starts to boil and that just kills them. So rather than let her thrash in the net, they used one pole with a bullet in it. And they put a bullet through her head, so that was instant death,” said her current owner: botanist, geologist and entrepreneur, Tom Kapitany. (1)
Not long afterwards, the park’s ambitious plans to expand their marine wildlife section became too much for what they could handle. Slowly but surely, the park fell into disrepair as they didn’t have enough income to keep up with the maintenance. In 2012 the park closed down and all the animals went to other places. Only when they were relocating the animals, they left one behind: Rosie, the preserved Great White Shark. (2)
A Strange Discovery
It was there, in a tank of toxic formaldehyde, that Rosie sat until 2018. Urban explorer Luke McPherson stumbled across Rosie’s tank while exploring the abandoned park for his YouTube channel. He chronicled the decaying ruins of the abandoned wildlife park and Rosie was the star of the show. That video now has over 17 million views. While this video made Rosie’s existence known, it also put her in danger.
“The problem with that, was that all these other people wanted to come and do the same thing, they wanted to see Rosie the Shark, even though it was private property. People started breaking in there at night and they vandalized all the buildings, exhibition halls and galleries and all the old amusement displays,” said Kapitany. “They broke over top of the tank and exposed the really, highly toxic formaldehyde, to the point that when we got to see the place, you needed oxygen or you need breather masks to go in there. Full hazmat suits and everything because it was just so bad.”
The park owner got spooked over the public liability issue. After all, if his unused amusement park became a public health problem, he would be liable for it. He was going to destroy Rosie, so Kapitany stepped and saved her.
A Little Bit About Great White Sharks
This species of shark, known as the great white shark, is a type of large mackerel shark and is also referred to as the white pointer. Great whites are found in major oceans throughout the world and they inhabit coastal surface waters that are close to land. It is one of the oldest species on earth with fossil records dating back to 200 million years ago in Portugal. The scientific name for this species is Carcharodon carcharias, Latin for “sharp tooth.” Scientists have been studying great whites for many years and have caught some alive. They have studied their behavior and diet which led them to realize that this species has existed in its current form for several million years. (3)
The Rescue Mission
Once he knew of her existence, Kapitany got to work immediately, transferring the shark and restoring her. After all, she had sat unattended for six years. He brought her to Crystal World in Victoria, Australia. This is a center dedicated to crystals, fossils, and minerals. The tank by that point was highly toxic, so Kapitany decided to replace it with the natural, safer preservative glycerin. This means that visitors can see Rosie clearly without the danger of toxic formaldehyde fumes. Crystal World estimates that around 50,000 people visit Rosie each year. When asked why he wanted to rescue Rosie, a long-since-dead great white shark, Kapitany said it was an easy choice: It’s all about education.
“It’s important to keep specimens like Rosie preserved as white [sharks] are a protected endangered species,” he explained. “Preserving and displaying her is about education and the preservation of natural history. Making people aware of life in the ocean, and even a dangerous looking shark, can have world wide interest.”
Keep Reading: Scientists Are Reincarnating the Woolly Mammoth to Return in 4 Years
Sources
- “The Story of the Great White Shark Discovered at an Abandoned Zoo.” Newsweek Robyn White. July 28, 2022.
- “The Story of Rosie the Shark.” Crystal world
- “Great white shark.” Wiki Wand